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Effects of unbalance voltage on induction motor current and its operation performance
K.V. Vamsi Krishna Lecon Systems

Power system unbalance is a common phenomenon in electrical grids especially in case of 11KV systems. Reasons for unbalance are Incomplete transposition of transmission lines Open delta transformer connections Single phase loads Blown fuses on capacitor banks Railway traction loads

Induction motor being the most popular one in the industry, it is very important to carry out studies about the effects of power quality in the efficiency and reliability of induction motors. The paper tries to study the effect of voltage unbalance on the motor 3-phase currents. It further studies heating in the motor windings and necessary derating that is required. It also studies the effect of voltage unbalance on the motor torque, efficiency. Methodology of analysis To study the voltage unbalance we resolve the motor unbalance 3-phase voltages in to positive sequence voltages and negative sequence voltages by the method of symmetrical components. We apply this positive sequence and negative sequence voltages to respective induction motor equivalent circuits. We arrive at positive sequence current and negative sequence current. Then we arrive at 3 currents and current unbalance factor. We study the effect of voltage unbalance on reduction in motor torque and its additional heating, and reduced efficiency.

Definitions of voltage unbalance: Line voltage unbalance LVUR (%) ratio is defined as

..(1)

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Phase voltage unbalance ratio PVUR(%) is defined as

(2)

Voltage unbalance factor VUF% is defined as:

.(3) Where .(4)

.(5)

Positive and Negative sequence equivalent circuits If the voltages applied to the terminals of a three phase induction motor are unbalanced, the motor performance will be modified. The most direct approach to the problem is by the analysis of the set of unbalanced voltages into two symmetrical sets of balanced voltages of positive and negative phase-sequence respectively. Each set produces corresponding balanced currents, and the synthesis of the two sets of current vectors represents the actual currents produced in the three stator phases by the original unbalanced voltages. The behaviour of the machine to the positive -sequence voltage is essentially the same as for normal balanced operation. The negative sequence voltages
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however, set up a reverse rotating field, so that if the rotor slip is S with respect to the positive sequence field, it will be (2-S) relative to the negative sequence field. The equivalent circuits of the induction motor for each sequence are shown in figures 1 and 2.The motor behaves as the addition of two separate motors, one running at slip S with a terminal voltage of V1 per phase and the other running with a slip of (2-S) and a terminal voltage of V2 .

Fig 1

Fig 2 Where V1 Positive sequence voltage V2 Negative sequence voltage Ip Positive sequence current In Negative sequence current X1 stator reactance X2 rotor reactance referred to stator R1 stator resistance R2 rotor resistance referred to stator Xm magnetizing reactance S slip The positive and negative sequence currents are functions of their sequence voltages, the motor parameters and the slip S. Thus using the equation given below the currents Ip and In are obtained using the respective sequence voltages and motor parameters and including the dependence of slip.

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.(6) Xm value is neglected.

.(7)

Using the Positive and negative sequence currents the three phase stator currents can be found and the current unbalance factor can be found by using the formula below. Current unbalance factor % CUF : It is defined as the ratio of negative sequence current (In) and positive sequence current (Ip).

.(8) The 3 phase stator currents currents can be found by using the symmetrical components method as below. Where Ia, Ib and Ic are the stator currents in a, b and c phases respectively. Ia = Ip+ In Ib = aIp + a2In Ic = a2Ip + aIn (9)

The reduction of output power and motor torque due to unbalance voltage can be studied from fig 2 and fig 3 as follows

.(10)
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In the above equation for power output of the motor component (1) is the power output on the balanced condition i.e. when there is only positive sequence component exist and the component (2) is the power due to negative sequence component alone. We can see that the output power gets reduced due to negative sequence current.

(11) Note the reduction in output torque due to the negative sequence current where syn is the synchronous speed. Using the equation above and by equivalent circuits in fig 1 and fig 2 the positive and negative sequence torque-speed curves may be plotted as shown in fig 3.The upper curve is the torque due to positive sequence component of current and the lower curve is the torque due to negative sequence component of current. The positive sequence torque resembles the torque of an induction motor operating from a balanced supply. Normal operation is between zero speed and synchronous speed. The counter rotating field produced by the negative sequence currents produces a negative sequence torque, with a peak in 3rd quadrant. The net shaft torque produced by the machine will be somewhat less than that produced by a balanced supply i.e. the entire envelope of the torque speed curve is reduced.

Torque (Nm)

-ns1
500 Speed (rpm)

ns1

Fig 3

Effects of negative sequence component on performance of induction motor: The motor will take longer time to run up . Increases the thermal stress in the motor which lead to loss in life.

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The net torque is reduced and if full load is still demanded, then the motor will be forced to operate at a higher slip, thus increasing the rotor losses and heat dissipation. The reduction in the peak torque reduces the ability of motor to ride through dips and sags, thus affecting the stability of the entire system.

Premature failure can only be prevented by derating of the machine to allow it to operate within the thermal limitations. Derating of the induction machine: In order to prevent the motor overheating due to unbalanced voltages the motor has to be operated below its rated output power which is called derating of the induction motor. As per NEMA guidelines, operating a motor for any length of time at voltage unbalance above 5% is not recommended. Any amount of unbalance makes a motor run hotter. The NEMA standard says that once unbalance reaches 5%, the temperature begins to rise so fast that protection from damage becomes impractical. The simplest protection as proposed by the NEMA standard, is to derate the motor-to reduce its output horsepower load so it can tolerate the extra heating imposed by the unbalanced supply. one of the way to develop a derating curve is as below.

Based on NEMAs tests on variety of motors for balanced voltages suggests that

(12)

And when voltages are unbalanced, the percent increase in temperature rise equals about twice the square of the percent voltage unbalance. This can be defined by the following relation:

..(13) The above relation can be used to find the percent load for operating under various unbalanced conditions (percent unbalance).the derating necessary to hold the temperature rise to the machine specifications can be determined. This derating curve for unbalance is given in fig 4.At 5% unbalance for example the motor should not operate at more than 77% of its rated output.
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Fig 4

1 0.9

Derating Factor (%)

0.8 0.7 0.6 0.5 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.1 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5

Voltage unbalance (%) The above phenomenon can be explained through the following example A 3-phase 7.5 KW, 220V (L-L), 60Hz, 6 pole star connected induction motor is considered and has the following parameters: R1=0.294 R2'=0.144 X1=0.503 X2'=0.209 Xm=13.25 The method of symmetrical components is used to do the calculations where a is an operator having value 1120. The 3 phase unbalance voltages applied to the above induction motor are considered as Va=1270 Vb=110120 Vc=100240. The phase voltage unbalance factor i.e. PVUR(%) is calculated by using equation (2) and the value obtained is 13.39%. The positive sequence voltage and negative sequence voltages are calculated by using equations (4) and (5). The values obtained w.r.t. R phase are V1=1120 Volts and
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V2=7.88-21.4 Volts. The voltage unbalance factor VUF (%) is calculated by using the equation (3) and the value obtained is 7.03%. The positive sequence voltage is applied to the positive sequence equivalent circuit in fig1by taking slip S=0.03 and positive sequence current (Ip) is calculated by using the equation (6) and the value of Ip=22.72-26.24 amps. Similarly negative sequence voltage is calculated and is applied to negative sequence equivalent circuit in fig2 by taking slip S=0.03 and the negative sequence current is calculated by using the equation (7) and the value of In=9.899-84.16 amps. The three phase currents of induction motor are calculated by using equation (9) and their values are Ia=29.20-42.92 amps and Ib=28.72111.49amps and Ic=12.83147amps.The current unbalance factor is calculated by using equation (8) and its value is 43.56%.

Conclusion: Even a small voltage unbalance will result in large current unbalance during the running of motor by a factor of 6 times. Negative phase sequence components will lead to heating of motor Negative phase sequence currents leads to reduction in motor output torque. Motor is forced to run at higher slip leading to increased rotor loss and reduced efficiency. Electricity boards should look in to this phenomenon seriously where irrigation pump sets suffer the voltage imbalance, even 1% loss of efficiency for the country like India would mean a great loss. 5 HP irrigation pump sets with a quantity of 6 Lakh approximate, the loss of power would be 22MW and annual wastage of Rs.47.5 millions (At 3 Rs/unit, 4 Hrs of Pump working and 6 months season).

Acknowledgement: We sincerely thank Shri Prafulla Deo for his guidance in preparing this paper. References: M.G.Say The performance and design of alternating current machines. Yaw-Juen Wang, Analysis of effects of three phase voltage unbalance on induction motors with Emphasis on the Angle of the complex voltage unbalance factor, IEEE Transaction on energy conversion ,Vol 16,No3 ,September2001 Enrique Quipse, Influence of unbalanced and waveform voltage on the performance characteristics of three phase induction motor. Ching-Yin Lee, Effects of unbalanced voltage on the operation performance of a three phase induction motor. IEEE Transaction on energy conversion ,Vol 14,No2 ,June 1999.

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